


everyone thinks you're somebody else (you even convinced yourself)

by LMoriarty



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Episode: s12e02 Spyfall Part 2, F/M, Missing Scene, Season/Series 12, Unreliable Narrator, i mean... it's the master lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-02
Updated: 2020-02-02
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:27:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22524778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LMoriarty/pseuds/LMoriarty
Summary: "You wanted me to become you!"The Master was back on his feet in an instant, slamming his fist against the wall. "Because you would!" he roared. "Because youareme, Doctor, no matter how much you pretend otherwise. No matter how deeply you have convinced yourself that you are different, that you arebetter, we are thesame."or: in between jamming the facial perception filter and running away from him, the Doctor and Master have a conversation. Some things change. Others don't.
Relationships: The Doctor/The Master, Thirteenth Doctor/The Master (Dhawan)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 113





	everyone thinks you're somebody else (you even convinced yourself)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ThatAloneOne](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatAloneOne/gifts).



> writing not only doctor who fic but specifically doctor/master fic is like... truly the best way to start 2020 frankly! i started this on jan 9th, so i'm very glad to have it done.
> 
> title is from "wrong direction" by hailee steinfeld. i actually made a doctor/master fanvid using this song, which you can find on youtube [here](https://youtu.be/sz9IRYiH-A0) & vimeo [here](https://vimeo.com/385589736).

Never cruel. Never cowardly. Always kind.

It was a motto the Doctor liked to repeat, time and again until it was etched into her skull. What nobody but the Master ever seemed to realize was this: kind people don't need to remind themselves to be kind. No matter how hard she pretended otherwise, they'd always been more similar than different.

He'd known that for years, 'course, but now it was _undeniable_. This little plan of hers — making him out to be a traitor to a regime he had infiltrated but never served, then jamming his facial perception filter — had him written all over it. He'd be proud, if it didn't mean he was about to be tortured.

Then again... perhaps he should be concerned. Sure, he knew she could be a hypocrite; that she could be cruel, or cowardly, or unkind, sometimes all at once. But very rarely was it directed at _him_. He hadn't been lying, that time he'd talked about how the Doctor was never mean to him. He wasn't even exaggerating when he claimed it was because the Doctor loved him— she _did_. She always had, through every regeneration, no matter what he did to her or her humans.

Yet, here she was. Doing something that had the potential to not just harm him, but perhaps kill him entirely. If he hadn't seen the confusion and fear on her face when he brought up Gallifrey, he might have assumed that she'd already been home, maybe even that she'd already figured out that it had been _his_ masterpiece (ha, get it?). As it was... she was crossing lines, big ones, fundamental ones, with ease. If they were friends, it might've been time for an intervention. One regeneration ago, they _would've_ been friends.

But now—

Who was he, to discourage her? All he'd ever wanted was her at his side, and if he couldn't get that, he would settle for this: watching her destroy herself, bit by bit, just to _maybe_ be able to stop him. Her, now, here was the most attractive he'd ever seen her, excluding maybe the time she'd pointed a gun at his face. If this was all he ever got, he would be content. He would perhaps even be happy.

Except. The Master did not want to die, and if he stayed here, he could. If the Nazis caught him— if they experimented on him— there was no way of telling how that would end. He wasn't human, and it wasn't exactly difficult to figure that out; he had two hearts, and even besides that, if they hurt him enough he would start to _glow_. As gorgeous as she would be to watch break, he couldn't risk it, not here.

Before the Doctor could close the lift doors on him, he grabbed her flailing arm and tugged her back towards him. Sliding his hand down until it was encircling her wrist, he squeezed hard enough that, with only a little more pressure, he might break the bone entirely. "You're really prepared to just leave me here, then?" the Master asked, tone conversational, as if he wasn't causing her what was likely an immense amount of pain.

The Doctor looked at him, face blank, eyes cold. She was so cute, pretending not to care about him. "Can you think of a single reason why I shouldn't?"

He could think of plenty, but there was no way she didn't already know all of them. Nothing he said, no answer he gave, would change her mind. The Master was sure of that, which meant there'd be no point bothering, and he _did_ so very much despise wasting time. Instead, he laughed, pleased, "Who _are_ you? Because you, my dear," the Master leaned in close, "are not the Doctor."

The words were intended to confuse, but more than that they were intended to _hurt_. The idea that her latest regeneration was somehow wrong, somehow faulty, was not something any Time Lord wanted to hear. Worse, getting called a hypocrite was something the _Doctor_ never wanted to hear.

"I— what?" she said, confused but not enough to stay put. She was slowly trying to ease backwards, assuming either that he wouldn't notice or that it wouldn't matter if he did. Sucks for her, because there was no way he was letting go. "I am the Doctor. Master, are you, do you—"

"Are you?" he asked, doing his very best to ignore the note of concern in her voice. It was _so_ like her to try to ruin this for him. "Because the Doctor _I_ know—"

"You don't know me at all," the Doctor said, worry gone in an instant. The Master would've been grateful for the interruption, if it weren't for the actual content of it. He'd had very little interest in actually finishing his sentence, knowing that it would mean rambling off something like: wouldn't leave me here to die, would keep trying to save me, even if it was fruitless, would _love_ me, why don't you love me, Doctor, why are you so _scared_ , you've never truly been scared of me before, what did your regeneration _do_ to you, what did mine do to me, Doctor, Doctor—

"I," he repeated, incredulous. " _I_ don't know you?"

"You really, really don't, Master."

"I know you better than anyone else in the _universe_ ," the Master hissed. The steps coming up the stairs were getting louder by the second, so he shoved her back, stepping into the lift with her. He continued moving forwards, crowding her in. "I grew up with you, remember? I was your best friend, once, maybe even twice. I _am_ your best enemy. I have been inside your mind, I know all your secrets, all your desires. I know your _name_."

She shook her head. "Those are just facts. Those aren't _me_."

"Those are everything," he countered. "You think your little humans know you better? Understand you at _all_? My darling Doctor, you are _mine_. You have always been mine. Until they _broke_ me, I was prepared to spend the rest of my life with you." The Master paused, then more tenderly than he would have liked, added, "Don't leave me here."

"You're blaming _Gallifrey_?" she asked, aggravated, maybe, or annoyed. She said the name of their planet — the very same planet he'd just told her was decimated — with ease, like it didn't hurt at all. Either she didn't believe him, or she did, and she didn't _care_. It made him want to kill her. It made him want to kiss her. "Regardless of what they did to you, you had a _choice_. You have a choice every second of every day. You have a choice right now. You could—"

"Stand with you?" he suggested. She jerked back, or at least tried to. Between his grip on her arm and the wall behind her, there was nowhere for her to go. Normally he'd relish in it, but the Doctor's eyes were pained, and the sight bothered him more than he would've liked. "Don't— don't do that, don't _look_ at me like that. Don't you _get_ it? I was _going to_."

"Stop _lying_ to me."

His grip tightened a fraction more, just enough for her to hiss out in pain. It was a wonderful noise, like— like— like music, like the Scissor Sisters, like the time he serenaded her with I Can't Decide. This! This was what he had missed, a regeneration ago! He missed _hurting_ her. Nowadays he missed holding her, but between the two, causing her pain had always been much more satisfying. "I am! Not! Lying!" the Master spat. "For you, I _killed_ myself."

She scoffed. "If there's one thing — _one_ thing — that you would never do, ever ever _ever_ , it's kill yourself."

"And yet here I am," he waved at himself, glancing down at his latest body. "Ta da! I look great for a dead man, I really do. Twice over, really. Stabbed him while we were hugging, then he shot me in the back to stop me from returning to you. I was _going_ to stand with you, that day."

"I don't believe you."

"Figures," he said. "You said it was all you ever wanted but _I'm_ the only one who meant it, wasn't I? Every time— every _single_ time I try to reach out and help you, every time I try to _side_ with you— you never believe me. You tell me no, again and again."

"You _never_ try to side with me," she shot back. "You try to make _me_ side with _you_. You try to make me _rule_ with you. I don't want that. I have _never_ wanted that. But it's the only thing you've ever desired."

He shook his head, incredulous. " _You're_ the only thing I've ever desired," he said. "All these years, Doctor. You still haven't figured that out? That it's _you_?" She could be so stupid sometimes, couldn't she? Sure, she'd never been as smart as _him_ , but still. This was embarrassing. 

"Then let go of my arm and _get out_."

"Fine," said the Master. He dropped her wrist and stepped back twice, until he was no longer inside the lift. If she wanted to go, she could, and she would be leaving him behind. "They will torture and kill me, you know. Experiment on me. You can let that happen, if you'd like. But — just for curiosity's sake — how many regenerations do you think I have left? Have you ever counted?" If there was anything that could change her plan, it would be this. As close as they have come to killing each other, both knew how lonely the universe would be if either of them ever truly died. Not that that would ever stop him from finally ending her, 'course, but he was pretty sure it would stop her from ending _him_. "Do you really think I can get out of this? Survive it?"

A loud bang sounded behind him. He didn't bother turning around, already knowing what it meant. They had seconds, at best. If she was going to save him, she had to do it now. 

The Doctor looked at him, searching his face for... something. Whatever it was, he had no clue if she found it or not. 

"Yes," she said. "I do."

"I don't," he said. The Master couldn't tell if it was a lie or not, and he thought that maybe the Doctor knew that, because the lift doors didn't close. 

Behind him: "Hey!"

He raised his eyebrow, waiting for a signal. If she let him in, after everything he'd done, everything he'd said... the Master wasn't sure what he would do. The thing was, there wasn't a lot of room inside. If the Master attacked her there, she wouldn't be able to get away. She'd barely even be able to fight back. He could do that. He _wanted_ to do that. For a moment, he couldn't think of anything he'd ever wanted more. 

Except, _except_ , a regeneration ago he'd be pressing her to the wall and snogging her, and regeneration was not regression; he had changed, yes, even more so once he had learned the truth about the Time Lords, but everything he had thought before he still thought now. They had been friends. He had loved her; without hope, without witness, without reward, sure, but also _with reciprocation_. She had loved him _back_. That meant she _still_ loved him, even if she was now a young blonde instead of a grumpy old Scotsman.

Both outcomes were equally desirable, and the Master wasn't sure which would win out, though he knew sooner or later one of them would. Either option would be easy to accomplish. It'd be like flipping a switch, or spinning a coin. Heads: he channels his last regeneration and kisses her. Tails: he channels the one before that, and his current one, and kills her. Or! Even better: he could channel all three, and kiss her and then kill her. Or kill her then kiss her. Or kiss her then kill her then kiss her then kill her, again and again, until she ran out of regenerations, until he was the last of the Time Lords, until it was all over. 

The Doctor's eyes flickered between him and the movement over his shoulder, before finally, anxiously saying, "Okay, fine. You win. Get in."

For a split second, just to fuck with her, the Master considered walking away. It'd be comedic gold, he knew. The look on her face! But all the reasons he wanted to leave with her were still true: if he made even the smallest mistake, he would be taken, tortured, experimented on, _killed_. If either of them were going to be the last of their race, he wanted it to be _him_ , not her. 

The Master stepped back in. The doors closed behind him. 

For a brief moment, they just looked at each other, until finally he smiled. "This, dear Doctor? This is what your little humans would call an act of love. Yaz would be horrified."

"You were worried," she said, "Actually, truly, properly worried."

"Was I?" he asked. "I don't recall."

He could kill her. He could kiss her. 

"Since your attempt to off me failed, and my attempt to stall you also failed," started the Doctor, contemplative, "maybe we could... take a break. Hold a ceasefire. Like on Christmas, during the First World War! I had a great deal of fun there. Saved a man's life, with that! Then I regenerated, and fell out of my TARDIS, but... anyway! Ceasefire! How about it?"

The Master eyed her. "And why would I want to do that?"

He could kill her. He could kiss her. 

"You've changed," she said. "I think I have too. I mean, I, I, uh, I like hugs now! And, hmm, I have new friends. My fam! And new experiences, new stories. I met a— have you ever heard of a pting? They devour _all_ non-organic material, it's crazy. I made one eat a bomb. Or, oooh! You remember the Assassins of Thijar? They're not assassins! They're witnesses! They honor life, not take it. It was... actually really sad, their story, but. My point is. Maybe we could catch up? We have time machines, so it's not like we're going to miss anything. We could... talk."

This version of the Doctor liked to ramble, but it was her silence that the Master was paying attention to. What she _didn't_ say told him a great deal more than what she did, most notably: she was still going to try to stop him, once all of this was over. It was expected, but some part of him was a touch disappointed anyway. 

"I'm not O," said the Master. 

He could kill her. He could kiss her. 

The Doctor faltered. "I— I know. But. You're not... the best actor. No offense. And O, he, he was— he _liked_ me. You liked me." There was a very easy way to refute that, most notably the fact that reading tone in text was notoriously difficult. The Master went to say as much, but the Doctor continued before he got a chance, "And, yeah, sure. The texts? Easier to disguise your true feelings. Fair enough. But when we were face to face? Until I caught you on that plane, you were— you were _fond_. Soft. You looked at me, and it was like you had hearts in your eyes. That's not... hate. That's not _this_."

Was that supposed to be an olive branch? Because frankly, he was offended. That was _not_ what he wanted her to think of him! The Master was— was— well, he was the Master, wasn't he? Destroyer of worlds. Bad guy! Not fond. Most definitely not _soft_. And! And! He was a _fantastic_ actor, thank you _very_ much, Doctor. "Or maybe you're just bad at telling the difference between love and hate," he suggested. "Thin line, isn't it, hm?"

He could kill her. He could kiss her. 

He should! He _wanted_ to. All he had to do was lean in, wrap his hands around her throat, or, or, press his mouth to her neck, her collarbone, god, her skin really was gorgeous wasn't it? 

"Or, perhaps... there is no difference between love and hate, with a history as complex as our own. I hate repeating myself, but this fits, so I'm gonna just—" she smiled, briefly, getting herself prepared, "'Love, in all its forms, is the most powerful weapon we have', right? And you do so love your weapons." The Doctor paused, squinted at him, then added, "The uh, last bit wasn't a quote, by the way, it's— that was directed at you."

"Yeah, I got that."

The Doctor shifted from one foot to the other, something he couldn't quite pinpoint on her face. Ugh, the Master _hated_ when she regenerated. It meant he had to relearn the meanings behind all her silly expressions, and he hadn't had time to do that yet this go around. "But, uh, slight issue. Tiny problem."

Cold fury swept through him. If she betrayed him, had been lying to him... there would be no kissing. Just killing, right here, right now. He would strangle her, or bash her head in, or, or—

"No big deal at _all_ , swear, but. We are... sort of trapped here," she quickly continued. "I was planning on making a quick getaway, see, and that didn't quite happen. So. We're probably surrounded."

Oh. Yeah. They probably were, weren't they?

"Guess you're getting that chat," he said. How long would it take, for the Nazis to presume they escaped and go away? They weren't exactly known for their patience, so the Master figured it wouldn't take that long. All he had to do in the meantime was... talk... to the Doctor...

Shit. He had _not_ thought this through. He should have just let the Nazis take him.

"So. Me first. How long has it been, since you last saw me?" the Doctor asked. "For me, it's been... a year? Two? I've never been great at keeping track, but definitely thereabouts."

"Something like that," he offered, purposefully vague. Smart as she was, subtlety had never been her strong point. It was obvious what she was trying to get at: if he'd really been planning on returning to her side, what changed? Why were they enemies again? Her curiosity had to be even more pronounced, after he told her that everything she knew was a lie, and then that Gallifrey had been destroyed. Still, what was the fun in telling her? Unless she explicitly asked, there was no reason to elaborate, and even if she did... what would he say? What _could_ he say? Sure, he had a geo-activated hologram ready to slip into her pocket, but he wasn't prepared to say any of that to her face, certainly not without her going to Gallifrey first. "Your new companions. You've been with them the whole time?"

"Yes!" she said. "They're the best, aren't they?"

"Not particularly," said the Master. "Graham, though— I like him. He's curious about you. Can't imagine it'll be long, until he gets disenchanted by all the adventures and starts to wonder about you. It's only a matter of time before he distrusts you, you know. And the other two, well, they look up to him, don't they? He'll turn them all against you. They'll _abandon_ you, Doctor, and then all you will have left will be _me_."

"Interesting thought," the Doctor said. "Super wrong, but points for creativity. You don't know me—"

"We already had this argument."

"You don't know me the way they know me," she continued with a halfhearted glare, "and you don't know _them_ at all. You're wrong, about Graham. You're wrong about all of it."

"Am I?" he asked. "We'll see."

"Yes," said the Doctor, "we will."

There were a few snide things the Master could say about that, but he refrained. She let him get into the lift. He had very little interest in her opening the doors and pushing him right back out.

The Doctor sighed, smoothing out her trench coat as she lowered herself to the ground, tucking her legs close to her body. She didn't say anything, so neither did he. See, he could be kind! He could be— be— thoughtful, or whatever. Not fond, not soft, not the things she called him, but... this was neither. This, he could do.

She glanced up at him, towering above her, and sighed. "Do you expect to get out of here in the next ten seconds?" she asked. "Sit down."

It would make killing her more difficult. It would make kissing her much easier.

He sat.

Unlike the Doctor, who was curled into herself like she was nervous about getting too close, the Master allowed himself to get comfortable. He settled in across from her, back to the wall and feet next to her. "Happy?" he asked.

"Never when you're around," she told him, though her tone lacked venom and her eyes were sparkling. She was gorgeous. It was disgusting, the way his hearts so easily betrayed him.

There was no reason to reply, so he didn't. Instead, he sat in silence, mentally reminding himself of all the reasons why kissing her would be a bad idea.

As it always did when the Doctor had enough time to think, her demeanor quickly turned sad. "What made you go back to Gallifrey?" she eventually asked, promptly killing the mood. Any desire to kiss her vanished the second she said the name of their home. "You always hated it there."

"Mm, no, that was you," he said. "I thrived there, remember? Even with the drumming, I was the best student; the most dedicated, the most talented. I knew it, you knew it, they knew it. It's why they resurrected me, for the Last Great Time War." The Master had to force the words out, taking great care to keep his tone level. If he could kill them all again, he would. Since he couldn't, all that was left... was her. The only other living Time Lord. The only other one he could kill. The only one he'd ever wanted to kiss. "But _you_. The second you got the chance, you ran, never looking back. Never caring. Came back just in time to kill them all, then went off running again."

"I saved them," she said, and aw, look at that. She was actually angry with him. How cute.

"Didn't last very long, though, did it?" he pointed out, unable to resist. 

The Doctor stared. "Are you— are you making _jokes_ about the destruction of Gallifrey? Right now, is, is that what you're doing? Seriously?"

"Yes," said the Master, amused tenfold by the fact that he was making jokes about _his own_ destruction of Gallifrey. "See, I grew to hate them, sure, but only because of what they did to me. You _decided_ to hate them. Called their power stifling, and turned your back on the whole lot. You never did tell me, dear— when did you last go home? Did you ever even bother?"

The Doctor glared. "Of course I went back."

"Willingly?" the Master added.

She looked away, and he smirked, smug. That's what he had thought.

"Don't look at me like that," the Doctor snapped. "They stole my regenerations. They exiled me. They forced me to be the sole decider of the fate of the Time War. They locked me in my confession dial for four and a half billion years. I have my reasons to hate them, thanks. _You_ , though? You were adored, back then. The prized son. The prodigal student. You say you hate them because of what they did to you, but what _did_ they do to you, because frankly—"

"You mean, besides the signal in my head that drove me mad?" he asked.

She scoffed. "Oh, that's what drove you mad? Really? Sure, it messed you up. It didn't make you _evil_. It didn't make you a killer. If they had put that signal in my head instead, I would have _never_ done the things you've done."

The Master laughed. "Oh, that's cute," he said. "You really, really don't see it, do you? Our intentions may be different, but our actions have _never_ been. Do you know how many deaths you have been complicit in? How many planets you have helped destroy? You find a struggle, pick your side, and fight until you win."

"You chase power—"

"And you get power _handed_ to you, Ms. President," he countered. "And what do you do with it? Nothing."

The Doctor rolled her eyes, shaking her head. She was always like this, convinced that she was right, never even considering that she might not be. It was one of the few things he truly hated about her. "'Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.'"

"You're going to quote Lord Acton? Really?" he laughed. "Do you have any idea how many people you could help? How many lives you could save? Did it ever even _occur_ to you? Because it occurred to me."

The Doctor leaned in, furious. "Don't you dare," she snarled. "Don't you dare act likethat's how you would use your power, if you got any. We both know you would never."

"Wouldn't I?" the Master questioned, perfectly calm. "I've tried before. Remember— I asked you to join me, said we 'could reign benevolently', that we 'could end wars, suffering, disease'. I said, 'We could save the universe'."

"Then you offered me 'a half-share in the universe', told me 'we could rule them all', that 'we could be gods'," she said. "Sorry, you're not the only one with a fantastic memory. Does that sound benevolent to you? Does that sound _kind_?"

"And the time I said I wanted 'to renounce my ways, destroy the monstrous legacies I have engendered'? I said I'd 'labour in helping others as you do'. How easily you forget."

"And how easily you forget the fact that you were _lying_."

"When I was under the chameleon arch, I spent my life trying to save the last of humanity, get them to Utopia. How about that?"

"Ha!" she laughed, sharp. "And the second you got your memories back, you ruined all your work. Try again."

"I gave you an army, told you to save 'all those people suffering', to 'go and get the good guys back'. I said, 'Every battle, every war, every invasion. From now on, you decide the outcome'. No ulterior motive. No secret plan. No involvement from me at all! And you threw it in my face."

"You wanted me to become you!"

The Master was back on his feet in an instant, slamming his fist against the wall. "Because you would!" he roared. "Because you _are_ me, Doctor, no matter how much you pretend otherwise. No matter how deeply you have convinced yourself that you are different, that you are _better_ , we are the _same_."

In a single, swift movement, she was standing too. The Doctor jabbed a finger at his chest, and it took every ounce of his willpower not to grab it and snap it in half. "We are _not_ ," she snarled. 

"You burned Gallifrey!"

"And I have spent most of my life hating myself for it, haven't I?" she said, just as loud. "Two point four seven billion children, Master. You think they deserved to die? Their families? Friends? That was a decision nobody should ever have to make, and I was _disgusted_ with myself for making it. Have you ever regretted anything, in your entire life?"

"Don't lie, you loved it. The power. The _control_. You said it yourself— you had plenty of reasons to hate the Time Lords. Getting everyone away from their influence, all those people, the planets the High Council controlled, the planets they destroyed... you regret that? Really, truly? Gallifreyans were dying anyway, thanks to the Daleks. It was a mercy killing!"

"There is no such thing as mercy when it comes to genocide, you _fu_ —"

He slammed her to the wall, hand full of her hair. "You are a fool," the Master told her, voice cold. She struggled in his arms, trying to get free, but his grip was ironclad and he had a plethora of physical advantages on his side. "You don't know the truth about any of it, any of them, and you _know_ you don't, I _told_ you you don't. But it doesn't matter to you, does it? So self-righteous. So _damn_ —" he pressed his forehead to hers, breathing in, out. The Master pulled back just enough to stare into her eyes, which were filled with what she would probably call hate, but what he knew was love. She'd been right, earlier: for the two of them, those were the same thing. They always had been.

His mind, always racing, always plotting, got the best of him; it was hard to think over the relentless refrain of kill her kiss her kill her kiss her kill her kiss her kill her kiss her. It was now or never, he needed to make a decision, but how could he?

"My dear Doctor," he said, hearts pounding. "You know I'm right. You know it. You _know_ it. Just admit it, admit it and we can be done here, we can walk out those doors together. I'm right. Say it. _Say it_."

She leaned in, tilting so her mouth was up against his ear. Her breath against his skin sent chills down his body. "My dear Master," said the Doctor, voice ragged, "My twice-friend, my best enemy."

"Yes," he whispered. "Yes. Doctor."

Her hand was on his side, warmth seeping through his clothes. Maybe he didn't need to make the choice between kiss-or-kill. Maybe she would do it herself. The Master would love nothing more than for her to press her mouth against his with no prompting from him, washing away all the lines they had drawn into the sand. She had done it before, in a graveyard. What was a lift, in comparison?

"Please," said the Master. Was he— was he _begging_? Look how the mighty fall, he thought, but wow, what a sight to fall for. She was glorious. "Please. Please."

He could feel her mouth twitch against his skin, pulling up into a smile. Kiss me. Come on, you can do it, Doctor. Kiss me. Kiss me. All she had to do was twist her head and their lips would be together, practically effortlessly.

"When I say what I'm about to say," the Doctor told him. Her voice was like magic. He'd never heard anything sweeter. "I need you to know that I mean every word."

He swallowed, hard. "Okay."

She laughed. "Race you to the future!"

"Wh—"

She pulled her knee up, drilling it between his legs. The Master doubled over, hands flying down to try to push the leg away, which meant they were out of her hair. At the same time, the hand by his side pressed down on her sonic, lift doors flying open. The Doctor ducked away from him, racing through the doors. Her trench coat swung through the air behind her.

Suddenly alone, the Master stumbled into the wall, staring with disbelieving eyes as she ran from him. That... he had not seen coming. But it was fine. It was _fine_! All he needed was to get to his TARDIS, and then he'd be able to make his way to the future and kill all her companions, and then kill her. Easy.

He took a moment to catch his breath and let his brain reboot, clearing all distractions from his mind. That had been awfully clever of her, even though he instantly resented her for it. Whatever. It was only a momentary failure.

Except. When the Doctor said _race you_... she didn't have her TARDIS with her, did she? She just turned up there, out of the blue. Which meant—

The Master pushed off the wall, chasing after her. If he ended up stuck in the past because she _outsmarted_ him, because he'd been thinking with the wrong head, because he _believed_ her... fucking damn it. He should have just killed her.

There was no fury like a Time Lord scorned. When he saw her again, he'd be going for blood.

**Author's Note:**

> some notes:
> 
> i've never written fic for dw before, let alone for these characters, so if there's any scenes that are particularly ooc, let me know! same goes for typos, etc.
> 
> i realize in-ep there is like, literally zero time between the doctor getting in the elevator + the master getting cornered, but i,, do not care. there is now a huge gap bc i needed there to be one. 
> 
> the doctor's quote about love is from 11.06 demons of the punjab (scene [here](https://youtu.be/uW8gSQGI9Es))
> 
> when the doctor and master are arguing about the likelihood of him ever using power for good, i reference/quote:  
> \- 8.20 colony in space, pt. 6 (from classic who; u can find a segment of the referenced scene [here](https://youtu.be/X6Tk6wzTjvs)).  
> \- [this](https://thirddoctor.tumblr.com/post/190329081170/also-this-hurts) doctor who comic  
> \- 3.11 utopia  
> \- 8.12 death in heaven (scene [here](https://youtu.be/uPjJ_VAubRs))
> 
> the most important part of this fic tho is "there is no such thing as mercy when it comes to genocide". regardless of why the master did what he did, destroying a planet is uhhhhh..... bad? the doctor ever siding with him on it is EXTRA bad. please keep that in mind when you're writing your own fics lol.
> 
> finally: you can find me on tumblr @ [laniemoriarty](https://laniemoriarty.tumblr.com)!


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